Sir Michael Wilshaw fired a parting shot at inspectorates which oversee British international schools on his last day at the helm of Ofsted.

Yesterday, the chief inspector, on the day he left the job, sent education secretary Justine Greening a report calling for each of the seven approved overseas inspectorates to “strengthen its quality assurance arrangements”.

Ofsted monitors and reports on the quality of the work of the seven organisations, and its annual review of them highlighted contradictory statements in their reports about schools, failures to include the views of parents and uncertainty about how judgements were made.

In 2015-16, the seven organisations carried out 55 inspections in 25 countries, and Ofsted reviewed nine of these reports.

It said one of the organisations told its inspectors to “draw upon” Ofsted’s criteria for grading schools, but Ofsted found “it is not always clear how inspectors have used this guidance to arrive at their judgements”.

‘Contradictory statements’

Ofsted’s annual report said: “Some reports contain contradictory statements. For example, one report states that ‘the attitudes of the pupils to learning are excellent’. However, in the main body of the report, there is a reference to some classes being characterised by disengagement and low-level disruption.”

It found that in one inspection handbook, the index referred to a section called “guidance on making judgements”, but this section was missing, making it difficult to know how judgements had been reached.

Ofsted’s report raised similar concerns about another inspection report, which made a judgement about post-16 provision, despite this area not being covered in the inspectorate’s framework.

Ofsted said each inspectorate should ensure that:

• Inspectors make consistent judgements regarding pupils’ progress;
• The information provided in reports is clear and unambiguous;
• Inspectors consistently report the views of pupils and parents;
• Inspection handbooks provide inspectors with comprehensive guidance.

The Ofsted report said the inspectorates’ reports provided a “detailed evaluation of the effectiveness of schools’ provision” and clearly outlined their arrangements for safeguarding children, and it described the promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development as “well reported”.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We have every confidence in these inspectorates and are pleased that Ofsted has confirmed that they are performing well.

“Schools choose to be inspected under the British Schools Overseas (BSO) scheme and, at present, the inspection system works well. However, following the publication of new standards that BSOs must meet, we will be reviewing all the approved inspectorates next year.”

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